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English Vocabulary: CLIMATE CHANGE
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- Hello. I'm Gill at engVid. And, today, we have a lesson on some vocabulary, and it's all connected with climate change.
- So, if you... you probably know a lot about this subject already, but if English isn't your first language, then this
- might be useful for you to teach you some of the main terms which are used in English to do with climate change, which is also
- called "global warming", because the problem is that the temperature is rising gradually, but... but definitely. So,
- "climate change" is to do with global warming; the temperature rising. Okay. And one of the main reasons for it is that for
- many years now, we've been using what are called "fossil fuels", which are things like oil and gas, and coal. And I think
- caught... coal goes back a very long time, more than 100 years, and causes a lot of air pollution. Okay. So, the "fossil
- fuels" are the things we... we need to try to stop using, and to stop... especially mining for coal; no more digging coal out
- of the ground, and burning it for... for power. Okay? Because all of those produce CO2, which is the chemical formula for
- carbon dioxide, which goes into the atmosphere, and it just makes things warm up even more, what are called "greenhouse
- gases". If you think of a greenhouse, which is a sort of glasshouse that you grow things in — things like tomatoes,
- fruit, other plants that like a warm atmosphere — so in a greenhouse, which is made of glass, that... the glass, and
- the light, and the sunlight coming through the glass helps to keep it warm inside. So, that's why we have this kind of
- metaphor: "greenhouse" to describe the kind of gases, such as CO2, which contribute to global warming. Okay?
- So, all of this is described as a "threat to human life", meaning human life is in danger because of all this climate
- change which is going on. And not just to human life, but also the last of species, which can either be plants, or animals, or
- things like the coral reefs under the sea. A lot of those different species are becoming extinct; coral reefs are sort of
- disappearing. So, all these things that we're losing — it's not a good thing for the environment. Okay. So, and one
- term that's used — a result of climate change — is "extreme weather", which can be all sorts of extremes. It can either be
- too wet or too dry... so... too hot. I think too cold — I don't think that's one of the extremes so much, but definitely things
- getting too hot. "Heatwaves" — when you have a very high temperature, more than 40 degrees temperature. Some
- countries are going into 50 degrees, so that's called a "heatwave" when it's so hot, you can hardly go outside; you can't
- walk, you might feel faint, you might collapse because it's so hot. So, "heatwaves". This word is pronounced: "drought". It's a
- strange spelling, but a "drought" is when there is no water; there's no rainfall., so everything dries up, and you
- can't grow crops, things like that. So "drought", but then the opposite: "storms" where you have heavy rainfall. So, those
- are the extremes — very dry or very wet. Storms, "hurricanes", when you have a very strong wind coming. And then because... if
- it's very dry and hot, it... you're more likely to get "wildfires", which are fires that might just start for no
- reason. Or it may be somebody has thrown a match on the ground and the grass has started to burn, and the fire spreads. But
- sometimes a fire can just start almost on its own, and then they spread in an area with a lot of trees. The trees are very dry.
- In places like Australia, California — there are very often wildfires, and the fires just spread and spread. If the
- trees are there, the fires will just spread. And people with houses in those areas, they often lose their homes; their
- homes burn down as well. Okay, so that's "wildfires". If it does rain very heavily, you get "floods". So, people go out and
- they... they... they're having... they've got water coming up to their knees or even higher, or they can't go out at
- all because the water is so high. So, "floods". And scientists think that even "volcanic eruptions"... if you
- think there are a lot more "volcanic eruptions" nowadays; if you think: "Oh, there seems to be another volcanic eruption
- every... every few months. Is it more than usual?" Scientists think that even volcanic eruptions could be a result of
- global warming. It's a theory, I think at the moment, but it's partly to do with the... if there were glaciers on the
- mountain, the... the ice, the glazier — a big sheet of ice — if that melts, and they do melt, the weight of the glacier
- pressing on the volcanoes possibly helps to stop the volcano erupting. But if the weight of the glacier has gone,
- there is less weight pressing down, and that may be part of the, you know... likelihood of an eruption. So, that's another
- thing. So, "rising sea levels" — the sea rising, partly with ice melt... melting. And then, if you have smaller islands, in
- places like the Pacific Ocean, there are a lot of little, small islands — they could disappear completely if the sea level
- comes up high enough; islands will be just lost. So, the melting ice is... a lot of it is in the North Pole, the Arctic,
- and the South Pole, the Antarctic. And it's the melting ice, and very big pieces of ice break off and float around in
- the sea, and gradually melt. And they're helping to raise the level of the sea, which is another danger. Okay. And then
- the other way is, again... so, if... if there's... if it's very dry, what used to be farmland where people grow crops for
- food, the farmland could go very dry and turn into a desert. So, it... it may have looked very green at one time, and then you
- see it looks sort of yellow or brown, and you can't grow anything there unless you have water to water it with
- regularly. So, farmland becoming desert, then you can't grow crops, so that will then lead to food shortage; not enough food
- for everybody. Okay. So, you may wonder: "Well, what can we do about it? What...?
- What are the contributing factors?" Well, two of them are to do with transport and things that we do at home. So,
- transport, traveling by plane, by car adds a lot to the global warming because of the fuel that's being used. If, you
- know... the planes have fossil fuels to... to power them. And cars have either diesel or petrol, which is fossil fuel
- again. And there's a trend now to make a lot more electric cars, where that will be less harmful to the environment.
- Okay. But then if... if you avoid planes and cars, and go use public transport instead, or walk, if you don't have too far
- to go, then that's one thing that... that can be done. Okay. And then at home, household appliances, electrical
- equipment, heating, the heating in your house. If it's... if it's gas, then it's... it's a fossil fuel. And then, if your
- house doesn't have... or your home doesn't have insulation, if the... if the heat that you have in the house can escape through
- cracks in the window, or in the door — if it's drafty, so you have to turn the heating up to keep warm — then that's a bad
- thing. So, another good thing that we can do is insulation, for example, double glazing for windows; two sheets of glass in
- the window, rather than one, and... and things like that. Okay, so... so that's just a very short summary, really, of
- climate change, global warming, and some of the vocabulary connected with it. So, I hope that's been helpful for you. And
- there will be a quiz on this, so please go to www.engvid.com and try the quiz. And see you again soon. Okay. Bye for now.